Commanding My Body

[Commander]

Here is my review of the 6 week Workout Machine cycle:

1. Excellent layout – I really believe the organization of strength, hypertrophy and dynamic effort days is superb. I should have followed it, lol.

Seriously, I should have taken extra rest days when my schedule wouldn’t allow me to workout as the program called for, rather than do a workout a day early and compromise the planned amount of rest for that muscle group.

2. Good balance of hypertrophy and strength – My military press in particular is stronger and I feel my pushing muscles in general look much fuller. Further, I have more endurance thanks to the hypertrophy workouts. My deadlift benefited as well, hitting PR’s in several rep ranges (for example, a 10 lb increase in 3 reps range while tired) and developing more strength endurance. I’m sure my squat would have benefited had I not been a complete dork (see previous posts for detail if needed). I also crushed my PR’s in dips (several more reps at BW range and increase on weighted dips) and hit some new PRs with chin ups.

3. An introductory week (or two) would have benefited me – I was crippled with DOMS during the first week because I was unused to this level of volume, a week of adjusting to the additional volume would have helped.

4. Know your training max – First, the way I define training max is a single you can completed after some demanding training. Problem is, I didn’t really have a training max, because whenever I hit a heavy single I was almost always doing it like a competition (warming up and progressing through heavy singles), albeit, in my basement.

Workout Machine’s program called for heavy singles after some demanding lifting, i.e. 3 sets of 3 at 90%. Workout Machine has stated that he has insane endurance and doesn’t get tired, unfortunately, I am not blessed with that ability! My heavy single was severely comprised by the 3x3 at 90%.

For example, I finished the program pulling 456x1 after hitting, 426, 431 and 436 for 3. I missed 476. However, I have pulled 491x1 before. Knowing that my training max was around the 450 range would have impacted how I computed my percents for the strength workouts.

5. If you are low on time, reduce the assistance – Being an active father, I try to keep my workouts around 1 hour tops. This made it hard to complete some of the workouts, especially the strength workouts. I made the mistake of trying to do all of the assistance work planned, and thus, would cut down on my rest periods of the main lift in order to finish the workout in time. If I had to do it over, I would take as much rest as needed to get the reps required on the main lift, and then do only as much assistance as I could fit into the time remaining, rather than trying to squeeze it all in.

[Commander]

Originally Posted by bigbear6708

looking good man...Now that you are done, this makes me WMs next guinea pig!! haha, I have one more run through of DC to do (2 weeks) followed by a slight taper into my Army PT test..after that, I am not due for one for another 6 months..so I can really focus on lifting and not endurance...so...what advice can you offer me for my run through this animal?

My advice, don't make the same mistakes I did (see above). Know your training max and take as much rest as needed.

Originally Posted by Mfitts52

your military press and bench has really gone up... I remember when we were both at about the same numbers but im prob maxin 270 on bench and like 165-170 military press. Nice to see your still improving though man

Thanks, I'm sure you are improving as well, you just don't log it....you gotta keep that journal going.

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Saturday's workout

Deadlift

(with belt)
426x3 (tie for PR)
431x3 (new PR)
436x3 (new PR again)
456x1
476x0 miss

For some reason, I am having difficulty getting comfortable in my belt, this never used to happen. I get this tight, almost burning, sensation in the middle of my chest as if something's going on gastronomically. It sort of reminds me of heartburn. I am not wearing my belt any tighter than I used to, maybe I should wait longer after I eat.

More Deadlifting

(no belt)
361x5
361x5
361x5
361x5
361x5

306x10

I was trashed after this workout, absolutely awesome. It is now 2 days later as I write this, and I feel like a cripple. My hamstrings, lats and traps are sore and my lower back is completely fried. Sweet.

Sunday - off

[arian11]

great review of Workout Machine's routine. i'm currently on week 3 of his cycle and have experienced some of the same mistakes as you and hopefully i can avoid the other mistakes you made. keep up the good work!

[Commander]

Originally Posted by Gregsimo

Just curious as to what routine you plan to do after this non linear split?

Here is my tentative plan, definitely open to feedback. The Lower back spec workouts are taken from a post CT made at T-Muscle. I then added in the Upper work and a Squat day to my taste.

LOWER BACK SPEC
A. Power clean, sets of 3 reps
B. Power upright row, sets of 5 reps
C. Two arms DB swing
3 x 15-20 reps

UPPER
A. Bench Press, sets of 3 reps
B. Pull ups, sets of 3 reps
C. Skull Crusher, sets of 5 reps

LOWER BACK SPEC
A. Deadlift, sets of 3 reps
B. Deadlift 85% of A, 5 sets of 5
C. Deadlift 85% of B , 1 set of 10

UPPER + DE SQUAT
A. DE Squat
B. OH Press, sets of 3 reps
C1. CG Bench, sets of 5 reps
C2. Inc Curls, sets of 5 reps

LOWER BACK SPEC
A. Romanian deadlift 1st pull, sets of 5 reps
B. Goodmorning, sets of 5 reps (CT suggests Seated, but I might do regular)
C. Heavy back extension, sets of 5 reps
D. Back extension - no weight
3 x max reps

UPPER
A. DE Bench
B. DB Row, sets of 3 reps
C. Dips, sets of 5 reps
D. Chin-ups, sets of 5 reps

SQUAT
A. Squat, sets of 3 reps
B. Lunge or Step up, sets of 5 reps

OR…

B. Sled work (weather dependent)

Originally Posted by arian11

great review of Workout Machine's routine. i'm currently on week 3 of his cycle and have experienced some of the same mistakes as you and hopefully i can avoid the other mistakes you made. keep up the good work!

Thanks and I am glad you found it helpful.

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Diet update -
Bodyweight average this past week: 198.8, 0.5 lb gain.
Calories: Roughly 4300, para-workout not included

[WorkoutMchne]

Thanks for giving the program a run and for the review. I will use your comments to make the program better. I especially like your thoughts on an introductory week (kind of like Smolov has), I will start to work on this as I think almost everyone who begins could use it, great idea. Don't worry though, after the first hypertrophy bench and squat days on this program I'm always wrecked for two days.

[Gregsimo]

Originally Posted by WorkoutMchne

Thanks for giving the program a run and for the review. I will use your comments to make the program better. I especially like your thoughts on an introductory week (kind of like Smolov has), I will start to work on this as I think almost everyone who begins could use it, great idea. Don't worry though, after the first hypertrophy bench and squat days on this program I'm always wrecked for two days.

I think a good idea for the introductory week would be to do a 3 day week of
monday: bench and OH press,
weds: deads and pullups,
fri: squats

on these days nothing to failure, say about 60% of 1RM for 10 reps per exercise. it will be enough to result in adaptation and induce hypertrophy but not cause the fatigue experienced by jumping right in and doing all the associated assistance work on the normal days. Also reducing it to 3 days rather 4 may benefit as the OH press wont be affected too much by benching in the 60% range if failure isnt achieved on any of the sets.
Then the monday after just begin the program as normal.
What do you guys think?

[Commander]

Originally Posted by WorkoutMchne

Thanks for giving the program a run and for the review.

No problem!

Originally Posted by Gregsimo

I think a good idea for the introductory week would be to do a 3 day week of
monday: bench and OH press,
weds: deads and pullups,
fri: squats

on these days nothing to failure, say about 60% of 1RM for 10 reps per exercise. it will be enough to result in adaptation and induce hypertrophy but not cause the fatigue experienced by jumping right in and doing all the associated assistance work on the normal days. Also reducing it to 3 days rather 4 may benefit as the OH press wont be affected too much by benching in the 60% range if failure isnt achieved on any of the sets.
Then the monday after just begin the program as normal.
What do you guys think?

I think there is room for different introductory weeks, as long as you are find some type of happy medium between a) what you are currently doing and b) what the Workout Machine cycle calls for. Do the happy medium for 1 week or do the program's first week but knock 10-15% off the weight.

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I try to workout when my kids are playing with other kids or when they use their allotted video game time that way I don't miss too much play time.

I didn't workout Monday because my kids wanted to spend some extra time playing with me, we decided to build a cardboard and ducttape animal hotel...I am MacGuyver!

I combined two workouts into 1 last night to be efficient:

Seated OH Press
100 (plus 10) to 150x3
125x9

CGBP
170 (plus 10) to 210x5
170x10

Romanian Deadlift First Pull (ground to knee level)
120 (plus 10) to 170x5

Good Morning
100 (plus 10) to 150x5

Back Extension
BWx15, 3 sets

All sets done as explosively as possible, think "perfect rep" a la I,BB program. Romanian Deadlift first pulls felt GREAT. Kept the weight light on both RDL and Good Morning as I think even 98% perfect form on those isn't good enough if you want to blast your hams and glutes....and my back was still tired from deadlifting 3 days ago.

[tmkeehn]

Just wanted to say I hit 23 dips today...your turn brotha!

[Commander]

Originally Posted by tmkeehn

Just wanted to say I hit 23 dips today...your turn brotha!

Great job, went for weight last night, but 23 is coming soon!

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DE Bench
135, 2x3
150, 4x3
165, 2x3

DB Row
62, 72 (plus 5) 102x3, 82x11

These were slightly awkward, to go this heavy, I have to use 25lb plates on my adjustable DB, which are obviously bigger than 10s and change the ROM, I have to pull out to the side more.

Dips
BW (plus 15) BW+75x5
BW+92.5x5 (PR)
BW+45x12

Chin-ups
BW (plus 10) BW+20x5
BWx11
BWx6

Not much left for chins after rows and dips (I do Gironda dips and my lats are involved). I will probably change the order next workout and do chins right after rows.

Squats up next!

[Commander]

Squat

lots of light warmup sets

225 (plus 20 each set) 305x3 - added belt at 265
245x5
245x5
245x5

Lunge
100x10 - after this first, set I can tell I am going to be hurting tomorrow, lunges always do that to me
100x10

Foam Rolling & Stretching

I am going to keep my exercises minimal on squat day (most likely 2) because I really enjoy having time to foam roll and stretch extensively after squatting. I would have liked to get more than 305x3 on squat, but my posterior chain is fried right now from this lower back spec program. I hope to get more on squat as I adapt to the lower back workload.

Additionally, I think I will try step ups next week, lunges hit the glutes too much. I need more of a quad exercise to balance out my training week. My glutes are already getting nailed on the 3 lower back days.

Short and sweet.